


Double Crossed

by TheKeyboardNinja



Category: NCIS
Genre: Double Blind Date Shenanigans, F/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Season 17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24332335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKeyboardNinja/pseuds/TheKeyboardNinja
Summary: Convincing Ellie to take part in a blind date set up was just all part of the plan. But what happens when the conspirator is double crossed?
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 16
Kudos: 44





	1. Strife

_Strife_

On a sunny Wednesday, the members of the MCRT were in the Navy Yard bullpen closing a recent case. Agent Torres just walked back into the bullpen from the copier and was reading the paper file in front of him.

“They are ridiculous,” Nick muttered under his breath, leaning back on Ellie’s desk making himself look busy with the folder in front of him.

Gibbs and Sloane were talking softly up on the walkway in front of MTAC, in full view of everyone in the bullpen.

“Hmm?” Ellie questioned, looking up from her computer at the man in front of her.

Nick just quickly looked up prompting Ellie to follow his line of sight.

“Who are they kidding?”

“Guys, we’ve been over this,” Tim looked up from his computer exasperated.

“McGee,” Nick teased.

“Hey guys,” Kasie strolled up with a bright green shirt and her lab coat, throwing her findings on the senior agent’s desk.

“Thanks, Kase.”

“Whatcha doing?” Kasie chided the agent holding up Bishop’s desk.

“He’s being nosy,” Ellie taunted, making a face. “They’re obviously already dating, come on.”

“I brought up Christmas when Sloane cornered me in the elevator and she got all frazzled,” Nick loudly whispered, turning towards Ellie but casting a glance to Kasie.

Ellie tilted her head, narrowing her eyes when the realization hit her, “Oh, yeah!”

“Why did she corner you in the elevator?” Kasie questioned.

“Trying to shrink my brain because somebody threw me under the bus,” Nick casted a look at the agent behind the desk.

“For the last time, I’m sorry.”

“Mhm.”

“What if we set them up on a double-blind date?” Kasie mused. “Get it out and over with. The suspense is killing me!”

Both agents looked at Kasie silently and looked at each other amused.

“What? My cable has been out all week and mama needs some drama.”

“What’s so funny?” McGee questioned carefully, as he rose to head down to autopsy.

Ellie starting chuckling, waving her hand in front of her face to regain composure, “Nothing, nothing.”

McGee narrowed his eyes, looking at the three coworkers in front of him and made his way to the back hallway elevator.

“Now picture this—” Kasie started, using her hands to indicate the daydream scenario was beginning.

_It is evening, the scene… that nice restaurant off Dupont._

“Ugh,” Nick groaned.

“What, too soon?” Kasie quipped. “It’s the best date spot I know, as do the both of you. Anyway, where was I?”

_Again, it is evening, there’s nice music playing, we get them there under false pretenses._

“Kasie, who is this ‘we’?” Ellie interrupted the narration.

“Okay, B, I need you to focus here if we’re gonna win this thing.”

_Dinner starts, there’s hushed conversation. The four people at the table don’t know where to begin talking, here comes a bottle of wine sent over from a mysterious patron._

_“So, Ellie, this place comes highly recommended,” Jack wondered, taking a sip of the merlot sent to the table._

“What am I doing there?” Ellie interrupted again.

Kasie ignored her questioning and kept narrating the scene.

_“Yeah, they’re known for their homemade pasta—specifically the Maryland soft shell crab linguine.”_

_“With the chardonnay,” Nick responded looking down at the daily wine list._

“How did I get pulled into this!” Nick interjected testily, at a loud whisper waving the case file around.

“Listen, I know you have had a dry spell since Elena, but I need you to PULL IT TOGETHER and stop interrupting me!” Kasie explained. “Let me tell the story, because this is going to get complicated and this is only going to work if you get involved.

“I feel like this is violation of the rules, his own rules!”

“Rules, smurles,” Kasie waved off. “They’re not real, they’re not even written down.”

“Bishop gave me a list when I started, I have them memorized. Rule 12 is perfectly clear.”

“It’s true, I did do that.”

“Well—we did hear about him getting rid of Rule 10 and this one should be no different. Its messing with the universe and you know what happens when you mess with the universe. I could put the two of you watching from the bushes.”

Noticing she got no response from either of them, Kasie continued her daydream scenario.

_They’re sitting on that side, you’re on this side._

_Since you know that’s how double dates should be sitting. Let me finish._

_But, we get them there as some kind of work dinner that everyone else has something come up and the two of you are there to make it seem as not a complete and total setup—even if it is._

_Then before dinner order are taken you make yourselves sparse doing whatever the hell you guys do and don’t invite me._

_Obviously, we will need to keep sending stuff over and pay the bill because that would be rude to stick them with the bill when setting this all up._

“This sounds like a nightmare,” Nick piped up, moving over to his desk when he noticed Gibbs was coming down the stairs.

Gibbs strolled into the bullpen to his desk, grabbed something out of the drawer and made his way to the elevator.

“I guess he had somewhere to be,” Bishop mused, handing the file in front of her to Kasie.

“I can’t believe you would make us witness such a train wreck,” Nick taunted. “We are innocent here.”

“Sure you are, I’m working with what I got and you two seem to have experience on the matter,” Kasie scolded and started to make her way through the bullpen looking over her shoulder. “We still on for tonight?”

“Mhmm.”

“Yup.”

What had started as video game hangout in Kasie’s lab ended up as “movie” night at Kasie’s apartment. Originally, it had been at Ellie’s apartment, but that changed suddenly in the last several weeks and Kasie had no problem being the hostess. Currently they were making their way through episodes of Westworld—whenever they weren’t interrupted by a late-night call for a case.

With Tim and Jimmy having their own families and Gibbs and Sloane doing their own thing, they had fallen into a niche evening hangout group between the three of them. What two of them didn’t know was that tonight was going to evolve into shenanigans planning, according to Kasie.

Later that evening, Kasie was quickly tidying up her studio apartment before Nick and Ellie arrived and had just put the pizza in the oven when a knock was heard on the door.

“Hey!” Kasie let Nick into the apartment and closed the door. “You can put that in the fridge. I’m still setting up the couch.”

Nick wordlessly had shown the six-pack he had brought and headed towards the kitchen.

“What a day,” Nick sighed tiredly. “That’s eight days in a row now. Vance ordered a 24-hour reprieve. So, we can’t be called in until Friday.”

“It sure will be quiet tomorrow,” Kasie laughed as she started to fold her adjustable studio furniture away.

“I’m going to sit and do nothing the entire day,” Nick picked the other end of the blanket Kasie was laying out.

“Don’t you usually use these days to catch up on lunch dates you have to cancel?”

“Eh, well, I’m taking a break from all of that.”

“I see, you wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Any particular reason why? Or because of whom?”

“Kasie.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll drop it for you. You’re making yourself miserable holding it in.”

“Yeah, yeah I’ve heard that before.”

“Oh really, who else is chiding you to do what I’ve been telling you all alone.”

“That’s not important, it’s nothing,” Nick said with finality and sat down on the finished sofa, opening his phone.

Soon, the door flung open with a flurry and closed back again, “I got ice cream!”

“You would, B,” Nick looked up from his phone with a quick chuckle.

“It brings me joy!”

“What food doesn’t bring you joy?”

“It’s the one consistent in my life that hasn’t let me down.”

Kasie decided to jump into their repartee before she became the third wheel this evening—she had other plans.

“As much you two need to get a room in this studio apartment, we have matters to attend to. Bishop—freezer!” Kasie waved her handspring emphasize her point, then waved her hands to the direction of the kitchenette.

“Geez—I got it,” Ellie laughed. “Somebody got bees…”

“Not another one of your nana’s Oklahoma sayings,” Nick called out putting his phone down on the sofa beside him.

“Says you…” Ellie started to retort.

“Sweet mama,” Kasie started to rub her forehead. This was going to take an act of Congress to get going. Her part of the plan was getting derailed. “I’ll get the pizza out, you—sit!”

Taking a look over her shoulder, looking at the pair on the couch, she reached for phone from her back pocket and sent over a quick text before getting the pizza out of the oven and resting it on top of the stove.

“About another five minutes, pizza just came out,” Kasie explained walking back towards the sofa, realizing she had lost them again.

“Ow, ow!” Nick was exclaiming. “No--to the left.”

“Stop moving!” Ellie exclaimed with her elbow in his back. “You’re the one that complained about a knot and asked me to help.”

“I forgot how bony your elbows are, god.”

“Nick, you ok, you look like you’re gonna hurl,” Kasie sat on the throw pillow on the floor in front of the tv looking up at the recently separated duo.

“He had a muscle spasm and he asked me to help and this is the thanks I get.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Kase, ready to start?”

Kasie mused, looking them over before starting, “Not just yet, I wanted to finish our conversation from earlier.”

“I am convinced they’re already dating and had a fight recently.”

“Bishop, it was not that serious.”

“I’m just sayin’ a nice dinner after hard day of work.”

“Kase, what could you possibly be getting out of this?”

“What can I say, my cable is out and all I have is your HBO streaming account and my fish, my hands are tied. You were saying that when she cornered you in the elevator, you flipped it back asking her about Christmas?”

“I never said that.”

“It was implied she cornered you about something you don’t want to talk about, I’ve seen it before,” Kasie held out her hand waving slightly it in his direction and then to Ellie. “You, ideas, shoot.”

“I just want to watch tv and not do anything for the next 24 hours.”

“Why are you so negative about all of this, I thought you would be into it?”

“Rule 12,” Nick said with finality, pressing the remote to start the episode. “Wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite.”

“Kase, he has the rules for a reason. I mean, sure, I found out rule 12 is more applicable to the agents than other NCIS employees with Qasim. Or McGee and Abby. I wouldn’t want them to go through what happened with me.”

“I see,” Kasie pondered. “McGee and Abby, when did that happen?”

Her question had fallen unanswered as the opening credits came to an end with a faint “bring yourself back online” emitted from the television. This was going to take some more finesse than she thought.

“Well, that was crazy,” Ellie exclaimed once the episode was over, shoving pizza into her mouth. “Now I’m even more confused.”

“I have a headache,” Nick held his head and laid down on the sofa arm.

“Oh my god,” Ellie picked up her phone to inspect it closer. “Look at Jack’s insta, they’re having poker night again.”

“Poker night?” Kasie inquired. She knew more about it, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Yeah,” Nick looked over her shoulder. “When somebody backed out of another undercover op about poker, I went with Jack and found out they had poker nights.”

“I didn’t know anything about poker!” Ellie exclaimed, clicking through Jack’s social feed.

“It’s all numbers, you would have been fine.”

“Who all goes?” Kasie questioned nonchalantly.

“Jack, Fornell,” Ellie started counting off. “Director Vance and…”

“Doctor Grace,” Nick finished.

“Talk about a meeting of the minds.”

“I don’t even think I was supposed to find out. Jack let out and then apologized to me.”

“This is why we have these evenings,” Ellie reasoned. “We don’t need them.”

“I have an idea!”

Following the sudden exclamation, Kasie stood up to propose her idea. Several minutes later, after explaining her idea in fine detail she waited for their response.

“Finding a way to stop everyone but Jack showing up, to a thing we don’t even go to, is never going to work. And what does it matter, anyway? There’s obviously something going on that doesn’t need our help!” Ellie exclaimed.

“B, she says she needs the drama,” Nick explained.

“Unless, you want to make them admit, so that they know that we know that they know.”

“Oh my god,” Nick holds his head.

“Nick, are you okay?” Kasie questioned the pained agent in front of her.

“Fine,” Nick slightly snapped. “I’m gonna head out, I’m getting a headache and better head home. Kase, see you Friday. Night.” Nick rose from the couch, using Bishop’s shoulder to stand, leading her to pat the top of his hand to signal good night.

“Okay…” Kasie started. “Let me walk you out, so you can go down the elevator.” Kasie grabbed her building security fob from the wall.

“I’ll be back, B. We can continue our Gilmore Girls rewatch when I get back.”

Ellie motioned a thumbs up without looking up from her phone. Her brother had just sent video of her niece riding a bike without training wheels for the first time.

Once in the hallway, Kasie and Nick walked a short way in silence.

“Are you really, okay? I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Nick sighed, “it just irritates me,” as he motioned Kasie to swipe the elevator security fob and pressed the down arrow.

“What does?”

“If they’re really already dating,” Nick started taking in a deep breath. “And it wasn’t just Christmas. Why is it being held over our heads? When it obviously doesn’t apply to them, but it does to me.”

Kasie provided a silent look for him to continue, but no words came. He was thinking, choosing his words carefully to ensure whatever he was thinking remained hidden. However, his eyes told another story—pain. Pain, distain, or was it anguish? Kasie couldn’t put her finger on it, as he got on the elevator and turned to face her.

“What is being held over your head?” Kasie pushed.

Nick set his jaw, pressed the lobby down to the lobby, “Rule 12.” He said with finality, attempting to set a mask on his face as the doors swooshed closed.

Heartbreak.

That’s the emotion Kasie saw. That was new, but also not surprising. Nick had always wore his emotions on his sleeve and he was starting to break. Kasie reached for her phone and sent a quick text—a change of tactics was needed in the plan. Nick was not going to take the bait, finesse had nothing on internal strife. Ellie was her only shot.


	2.  Plan in Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan in motion will stay in motion.

_Chapter Two –_

Ending the evening with Ellie and two episodes of Gilmore Girls wasn’t as tense as those quick moments with Nick in the hallway, but Kasie could tell there were reservations with her as well.

Ellie was much more open to the prospect of setting up Gibbs and Sloane to admit the truth; but she wanted to do something small. Like invite Sloane and Gibbs separately to the bar down on 7th Avenue for post-case drinks but make themselves sparse. 

There was no big plan on intervening poker night and scheduling a dinner delivery in her mind. Too risky with no benefit was her excuse. She wanted to see results if she was going to do this.

“I better to get to sleep,” Kasie yawned, looking over at Ellie laughing at her phone. “What’s up?”

“Oh Nick just gave me and update about the crazy cat lady upstairs,” Ellie chuckled to herself. “Apparently, she has taken up clog dancing.”

Kasie chuckled to herself, they were always texting each other, providing crazy neighbor updates, or memes.

“Well, I better head home, let you get some rest,” Ellie reached for a quick hug and made her way to the door.

Kasie followed her down the hall to the elevator, yawning slight, “What a day, huh?”

“Yeah,” Ellie nodded as Kasie swiped the security fob to the elevator down arrow.

“Does Nick seem ok to you? I think I kind of pushed something there,” Kasie quizzed, motioning to Ellie’s phone.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Ellie responded, looking at Kasie who was mulling over her questions.

“He just seemed distant.”

“Ah, well. He shut down a little whenever someone mentions dating. Ever since Elena dumped him. It was his first time he was ever the dumpee.”

“I see,” Kasie eyes followed as Ellie got the elevator. “And are you handling it?”

Ellie smiled grimly, as she pressed the lobby button. “Night Kase, see you Friday.” And the elevator door swooped closed, leading to silence in the hallway.

Kasie headed back to her apartment, scratching the side of her head.

Damn, being a witness to this is pretty painful. The sad, mutual pining was abruptly obvious. When her and Jack had started this mission, it wasn’t this apparent they were tortured about it. She had read enough mutual pining, strangers-to-friends-to-lovers, 100K coffee shop AUs to know it when she saw it.

Alas, it was time to get ready to sleep and regroup tomorrow at work with the crew on respite.

It should be a quiet day, she thought.

Just thinking those words brought the chaos that unfolded on Special Agent McNamara’s team covering for Gibbs, McGee, Bishop, and Torres. To no fault of the covering team, Special Agent Dave Pointdexer in NCIS Legal had a record breaking seven incident reports to file due to a medical emergency and a chain of evidence violation.

He never thought he’d see the day of sighing in relief when he saw Special Agents Gibbs holding a cup of coffee, sliding into the bullpen behind his desk.

“Dave,” Gibbs greeted.

“Agent Gibbs,” Dave responded. “Glad to see you back.”

“That bad?” Gibbs threw it coat onto this chair and placed his side arm and badge into his desk drawer.

“Someone beat former Agent DiNozzo’s incident report record yesterday.”

Gibbs chuckled and rose from his desk, heading up to talk to Director Vance.

To Dave, Special Agent Gibbs was unsettling, especially in moments like this. He had no idea what to do make of that response, but he knew the today was going to be better.

Agents McGee, Bishop, and Torres all arrived from the parking garage to the lobby elevator at the same time and were riding up to the squad room, arriving a few minutes later to their desks. As they started to read through messages they missed, waiting for another case for them to take over. McNamara’s team remained in contact with the case from yesterday, when a disheveled Jimmy wandered into the bullpen.

“Is Gibbs here yet?”

“He’s up with Vance.”

“Ah,” Jimmy accepted. “Well, I’ll just wait for him.” Jimmy had sat down against Gibbs’ desk once again, looking exhausted.

“You okay, man?” Nick looked up at the medical examiner who looked like he had seen some shit yesterday.

“Another meat puzzle,” Jimmy explained. “What is wrong with people!”

“Don’t even know where to begin,” Bishop started typing in responses to her email. “It looks awful.”

“When are you going to get that assistant, Jimmy?” McGee questioned, worried about his friend. “You need the help.”

Jimmy rubbed his forehead, “I don’t know, I don’t have time to make the time to find the time to help me with the time.”

“It might be awhile, I’ll take that,” McGee motioned to the folders in Jimmy’s hands. “You can head back down and work on that ‘time.’”

“Great, thank you,” Jimmy rushed over to McGee’s desk, handing him the folders, and leaving with as much flurry as he arrived.

“I feel bad for him,” Nick chimed in. “It has been ridiculous this last year.”

“Ducky was rarely without an assistant, even if it wasn’t always full time,” McGee started. “There was Tom, and then Gerald, who got held hostage by Ari who faked his death to sneak inside and then shot Gerald into retirement.”

“Ari, you mean Ziva’s brother, I remember reading about that in the file,” Agent Bishop had stopped typing.

“This place is ridiculous, it should be on tv,” Nick laughed. “Meat puzzles, dead brothers, faked deaths.”

“Don’t you start,” McGee scolded. “I have been through enough this last month, thank you.”

Ellie chuckled as she rose from her desk at Torres’ and McGee’s back and forth. She headed for the elevator to head down to the lab and check in on Kasie.

“Jimmy?” She questioned as she pressed his elevator down button. He had spent the last few minutes circling, looking confused. “I thought you were long gone, what are you still doing up here?”

“Is that thing always there? I thought it was over there,” Jimmy pointed back over his shoulder, joining Agent Bishop on the elevator.

“I think so,” Ellie gave a side glance at her tired coworker, “are you okay? You look wrecked.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jimmy waved. “I had a late night last night and had to get Victoria to the before school program by 7:30. Breena is at the mortician’s convention in Atlanta this weekend.”

“Mortician’s convention, that’s a word,” Ellie laughed. “Having a good time with just the two of you?”

“Yeah, it’s great. She’s really into collecting rocks,” Jimmy reached into his lab coat pocket to grab his phones. “Here she was giving me a presentation on her purple rocks.”

“Of course.”

“Glad you got the day off yesterday, that was quite a stretch for you. How was yesterday?”

“Slept in. Got a breakfast burrito. Went on a run. Tried the coffee shop down on Connecticut.”

“Was it any good? I saw it on the news.”

“Yeah, it seemed good. I didn’t have any of the food. The coffee I had was pretty decent. Nick liked that mate tea they had,” Ellie explained as the elevator came to a stop at the sub-basement where Kasie’s lab was held.

The elevator door dinged as it swooshed open and Bishop turned back, “Take care of yourself, Jimmy. Get some rest today, okay.”

Jimmy was distracted with her previous response and was poised to ask her a question as the door swooshed closed and continued the journey down to autopsy. She saw the question in his eyes that didn’t make it out, she sighed in relief as she walked into Kasie’s lab sliding her neutral face in place.

“And she returns,” Kasie performed a fake announcer call and fake crowd roar.

“Thank you, thank you,” Ellie swung around the table, leaning against it with her hands up. “It was good to get the rest. Went on a run, look at I got some pictures,” Ellie quickly showed her some pictures of the beautiful cherry blossoms that were still present in one of the parks.

Scrolling through the photos quickly, resulted in one short video of Nick being attacked by the park’s resident ducks. Kasie saw it briefly before Ellie had swiped over to another landscape photo.

“Did Torres get attacked a duck?”

“Yeah,” Ellie chuckled, putting the phone back in her pocket, slightly awkward that it was caught. “Don’t tell him I showed you.”

“Not gonna,” Kasie questioned, but seeing Bishop avoiding eye contact decided to move on. “Man, you missed a crazy day yesterday. I’ve run so many samples of liquids you couldn’t even dream up. And Dave, in legal, you know said that McNamara’s team managed to beat Tony’s incident report record for a single day. Which, I don’t think it’s fair because there are three of them and only one of him.”

“Well—Tony is Tony.”

“So, I have heard.”

Kasie quickly went over the results from last week’s case that was still in the process of being closed. Paperwork had to be submitted, signed, and delivered to the legal team for processing of the charges, which included reports of forensic findings for the judge and grand jury to review.

“Ah, that’s great. Kase, thanks. I’ll finish up the report and see you at lunch?”

Kase nodded in response, then Ellie’s phone started to ring. A video call. Ah yes, it was Friday morning break video chat time with Tony. He had been calling to check in with her since the car accident, because she needed someone to talk to that wasn’t here. She was not going to bring this up with her mother, or hell any of her brothers. They would worry too much, but Tony… he would understand he had been through it as well.

“Just gonna take this back there,” Ellie waved her phone in the air and went to the lab’s back room and sat at the desk, pressing accept on the screen.

“Bonjour Tony.”

“Bish! Why isn’t Tim answering his phone?”

“I don’t know Tony, I’m downstairs, he’s probably talking with Gibbs. We were forced off yesterday and would you believe it, it took a 3-man team to take down your incident report record down yesterday.”

“Then, it doesn’t count.”

“How are you Tony?” Ellie redirected the conversation. “What can I do for you today?”

“Oh Bish, you know it’s what I can do for you. You didn’t take my call last week and after our talk last time, I was a little worried. Everything going okay?”

“Yeah, just fine. Hung out at Kasie’s on Wednesday and then went on a run on my day off yesterday.”

“What happened with the movie time at your place, your television is a lot better,” Tony laughed. He was video chatting and preparing a late lunch.

Ellie started to answer when she flashed back to two weeks ago.

_Kasie waved to Nick in the living room and Ellie in the kitchen, they had finished a series on Netflix and she was heading home for the night, “I bid you all adieu, and see you tomorrow.”_

_“Night,” both of them said._

_Movie night after work with the trio had just restarted. Things were getting back to normal. Slowly._

_“Hey B, come take a look at this,” Nick called from the alcove window, prompting Ellie to wipe her hands on a towel and come over to the window._

_A neighbor was out trying to chase their cat who had escaped. The man had tripped several times, as the usual indoor cat zoomed across the quiet street._

_The two were too busy laughing to realize how squeezed they had made themselves. Before they got a moment to get their bearing, the air had thickened as they made eye contact. It was happening again. Oh dear._

_“Nick, wait,” Ellie breathed out. Their noses rested against each other. They had tried to have the talk before, but it always ended up with both of them retreating and not bringing it up. They had their jobs to do._

_“We’re just doing some… very close talking.”_

_“Yeah,” Ellie said under her breath._

_“Yeah,” Nick cleared his throat, grabbing his coat walked backwards out of her apartment. “See you tomorrow.”_

“Probie!”

Ellie was shaken from her daydream.

“That name is not endearing.”

“Well, you turned into Walter Mitty there for a second,” Tony waved the knife. “I couldn’t get your attention. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Bishop shook her head, squeezing her fists a few times to get the blood back to her hands. “We’ll talk later, okay? I have to get back.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Just finishing up lunch while Ziva is picking up Tali from ballet. Tell McBusy to call me, ASAP.”

Ellie ended the video call and pulled herself together quickly, taking the rear stairs back up to the bullpen.

As Gibbs was still missing and McGee had just left, Ellie swung around her desk and plopped down on the seat.

“So, get there around seven, okay?” Jack explained and left Agent Torres’ desk, casting a look to the new arrival.

“What was that all about?” Ellie chuckled at the secrecy happening in front of her.

Before, Agent Torres could answer, Gibbs walked down to the bullpen, announcing they had a case at Quantico.

Hours later, when they got back to the Navy Yard, Agent Bishop was rising in the elevator up from autopsy, when Jack got on at the sub-basement from Kasie’s lab.

“Jack,” Ellie greeted. “Whatcha doing down here?”

“Oh, just talkin’ with Kasie. Planning a team dinner tonight,” Jack smiled, facing the elevator doors as they closed. “We are meeting at Ralphio’s at seven, wanna come?”

Ellie pondered a minute, she thought she had other plans tonight, but they seemed to have disappeared in the last four hours. She had pressed the gnawing feeling in her stomach down further, so they didn’t spill their secrets to everyone around them.

“Sure,” Ellie grinned. “I love their soft crab ravioli.”

The elevator stopped at the squad room, with Ellie departed the elevator without a word. Jack yelled after her, “Remember the dress code!”

Ah yes, it was slightly fancier establishment with a dress code.

This is good. Something to keep her mind busy. She sat at her desk, staring holes into her computer monitor without typing.

“What’s on your mind, Bishop,” Gibbs asked without looking up from the file.

“Oh, nothing, just a long week.”

Gibbs looked up silently to provide a inquiringly look.

“The team’s going to dinner at Ralphio’s, to wrap up this week, wanna come?”

Gibbs sighed, “Jack’s doing?”

“Mm,” Ellie replied.

“I’ll never turn down that porterhouse,” Gibbs replied, getting up from his desk and leaving the squad room.

Ellie smiled at herself—he didn’t seem to have gotten the invite before. She then sent off a quick text to Kasie, maybe the seven of them having a dinner together could calm Kasie's fancy. 


	3. Dinner at Ralphios

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is awkward.

_Dinner at Ralphio’s_

Nick strolled into Kasie’s lab a few hours later to see Jimmy and Kasie mumbling to themselves.

“And why are we doing this?” Jimmy asked, as Kasie elbowed him in the side. “Oof.”

Nick looked between the two with amused silence, before motioning in their direction with a casefile, “What are you two planning?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Jimmy laughed awkwardly.

“So, you two coming to Ralphio’s tonight?” Nick decided to change the subject, leaning again the workbench.

Jimmy looked at Kasie as he responded, “Oh, it seems I have to decline that invitation tonight.”

“Oh?”

“You know, I am befuddled with responsibilities,” Jimmy said, staring at Kasie as he said the words carefully. “Bye!”

Jimmy left with flurry again. The man needed to cut back on his caffeine.

Knowing they were up to something, Nick decided to drop the line of questioning, because it was going to get nowhere. The less he knew the better.

“Sadly, I had something come up,” Kasie explained, but did not continue.

That was weird, but Nick decided to drop it once again and just continue to work on the case. They were probably just wanted their evening off after working through hell yesterday.

Only six hours to go.

The rest of the day flew by with a whirlwind of paperwork, phone calls, and meetings. Just another day in paradise.

At a quarter ‘til seven, Ellie arrived at Ralphio’s via her Lyft and started to read the text from Jack on her phone. Seeing there was a reservation, she notified the hostess of the reservation and she was guided to a small table in the back. Only four chairs. That’s weird, how many people did Jack invite?

Minutes later, Jack joined.

“Hey, Ellie,” Jack greeted, as she sat across from her. “Been here long?”

“Oh no,” Ellie waved, looking up from the menu.

Before Jack would ask another question, Nick walked up and sat to Ellie’s right.

“Jack, I thought you had more friends than this. This is a small table.”

“I do, thank you very much.”

Ellie had chuckled silently at their back and forth, “I’m going to take this moment to go freshen up, I’ll be right back.”

Jack smiled and nodded, decided to review the tables’ wine list after the younger agent had left.

“What the hell is going on Jack?” Nick whispered under the breath. “Are you planning something?”

“And what would I be planning exactly?”

Nick narrowed his eyes at her, “Who else is coming?”

“I invited Kasie, Jimmy, McGee, you, and Bishop, Nick. Kasie said she would handle the reservation for me, as I had a meeting all afternoon. Seriously, Nick, I don’t know either.”

“You left Gibbs out?”

“Like he would ever come,” Jack had resigned herself. “Not his scene.”

Jack was hurting too but didn’t let anyone know that. Bishop was wrong about them dating, but there was obviously a thing not a thing-thing.

“Do you have bad memories about this place?”

Nick paused, as he thought about a moment less than two months ago.

_It was a Monday night at Ralphio’s. They had a change in ownership with a new menu. Kasie decided the three of them would go out and try it immediately. She had secured the reservation for the three of them but was running late._

_Ellie and Nick were sitting on their respective sides of the square table when a server came over with a bottle of wine._

_“Oh, we didn’t order this?” Ellie questioned._

_“It is complements of the couple across the way, who requested the rest of their wine be sent over. You reminded them of who they used to be.”_

_“Oh, we’re not…” Ellie laughed._

_“We grateful, thank you.” Nick interjected, which resulted in a questioning look from Ellie as the server left._

_Before she could speak, he responded, “It’s free 60-dollar bottle of wine, let’s just go with it.”_

_“Fair,” Ellie picked up her glass, briefly clinking it with his glass before taking a sip._

“Not bad, no.” Nick returned the present.

Jack was suspicious but was interrupted when she saw Gibbs walk in the front door, “Shit.” It was just the four of them. Kasie had some explaining to do.

Moments later, Ellie emerged from the bathroom after washing up to see Gibbs, Jack, and Nick all staring silently at their menus. Oh no. When she told Kasie had had gotten Gibbs to agree to come, she wasn’t supposed to uninvite people to match her previous blind date narration.

Oh Kasie, she had some explaining to do.

“Sorry, there was a line,” Ellie explained, as she sat down at the table to silence, acknowledging the new arrival.

Nick motioned her to pick up the menu and started whispering behind it to her, “This is so awkward. How did this happen?”

“I think Kasie happened,” she muttered.

Nick continued mutter softly some phrases in Spanish, resulting in Ellie giving him looks to calm down.

“Hello, welcome to Ralphio’s,” the server welcomed Sloane and Gibbs, before turning over to the other side. “Glad to see you two have come back to see us today. My name is Rafael and I will be your server today.”

Well, shit. The server remembered them, and it did not go unnoticed.

Jack’s eyes lit up at a realization and slowly paced her glances before the slightly squirming pair in front of her. “What are the specials today?”

“Ah yes, we have a bruschetta with house made mozzarella, lobster linguini with a balsamic reduction paired with 2007 Napa Valley Riesling.”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Jack handed her menu to the server, resuming her inquisitive stare across the table.

The rest of them had placed their order and conversation fell silent again. Jack attempted to make small talk amongst the group, as Ellie started texting under the table at Kasie demanding an explanation.

Their food arrived and dinner went through quickly, but again it was hard to eat under the Gibbs stare as he cut his steak.

He was silent, but deadly.

They felt judged when it was not their fault they were here. Other factors needed to be taken into consideration.

After several minutes of light, awkward conversation of Nick getting the stare down for existing in front of him, Jack started to rise, “Come on cowboy, let me get you that bourbon I promised you.”

Not giving him the chance to decline, she pulled him out of his chair and down to the bar, casting a glance at the two of the table.

They had just sighed in relief and had started laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

“That was by far the most stressed dinner I’ve ever had, even more so than that time in Argentina.”

“Oh, not that story again,” Ellie laughed.

“I got an ulcer from it.”

Ellie smiled, as she looked down at her phone. Kasie was still not answering her text, so she sent off a few more rapid-fire texts demanding an explanation.

At the bar, Jack had finished fulling him to the bar, and ordered two bourbons neat.

“Jack, what the hell is going on here?”

“I have no idea, Gibbs. It was supposed to be a team dinner, but it seems like only the four of us showed up, consequently.”

Gibbs provided no response but made it clear through his silence of how he felt about those.

“Listen, I know about your rules, especially about that.”

“They all mean something, Jack.”

“And that is good code to live by. For you,” Jack said with finality taking a sip of the bourbon.

“There needs to be order to live by, otherwise you lose control of the team.”

“Again, you can live by your own rules. But imposing them on other people against their will, that’s when it gets messy.”

“What are you talking about?”

Jack smiled softly for the man that noticed everything, he could be dense.

“For someone who imposes the rules, you do a crappy job of enforcing them uniformly. You had no problem when McGee and Abby dated, or even Qasim and Ellie. What was the difference?”

Jack knew the answer, the rule enforcement was the direct main agents under his supervision. The core team.

“Jack, if there’s anything I’ve learned in my life, is that work and relationships is complicated. Things can go wrong.”

“I see. But you’ve also seen what forcing it apart results in broken people and unnecessary pain.”

“All of that took place after Ziva resigned.”

“I wasn’t talking about them.”

Gibbs had just taken a sip of his bourbon as Jack had cast a look at the pair talking back at their original table.

“Jack.”

Jack settled in her seat and cleared her throat, it was now or never, “What does that make us?”

Back at the table, Nick and Ellie were still trying to get over the ball of nerves that entire dinner was.

“I think we survived it pretty well,” Ellie reasoned, after desert arrived. She wasn’t going to go through this dinner without having the famous Ralphio’s desert.

Nick said he didn’t want any, but then ended up eating half of hers in the following moments.

“Kasie is still not responding, I demanded answers.”

“Well, I think we got some answers,” Nick slightly motioned to the bar. “They were not dating before, so you were wrong.”

“Maybe I was just right early,” Ellie finished as she watched them pay the bartender and leave the restaurant.

Rafael, the server, soon walked up to their table. “How was everything this evening?”

“Yeah, thank you,” Ellie responded with Nick in agreeance.

“Would you like to order anything else this evening?”

“Just the check please.”

“Of course, I will be right back.”

“Unbelievable, we get stuck here with the check. I blame Kasie,” Ellie was rummaging through her bag.

“I’ll split it with you if it makes you feel better, we can get her back on Monday.”

“Maybe. What are we thinking? Leprechaun pictures taped all over?” Ellie reached for her phone, texting Jack and Kasie about what the hell was going on.

Jack had soon responded just a winky face and Kasie was still leaving her on read.

“Can you believe the two of them?”

Rafael soon returned and told them that their meal had been paid for.

“Paid for?” Nick asked the server.

“Yes, a Ms. Hines sends her apologizes for not making it,” Rafael clarified and left to help another patron.

“Oh, she is getting it,” Ellie started texting more rapidly.

Nick had had a look around the restaurant, before adjusting his chair and placing his arm on the back of the chair.

“What?”

Nick laughed under his breath and took her phone from her placing it into his pocket, “Let’s make the best of it. Wanna get out of here?”

“And where do you suggest we go?”

“Ah, the place on Jefferson?” Nick rose from the chair, pulling her up.

“The night club? I don’t have the right shoes for that.”

“They look right to me,” Nick guided her outside the curb to wait for a car. “It’s Friday night, it’s time to be alive.”

On Monday morning, Kasie found her lab plastered with pictures of leprechauns. She found the invasion of Darby O’Gill to be a positive sign, there was obviously some co-conspirators of their own at play.

When Jack came up to her last week with a potential double blind date with the both of them, Kasie had taken many things she had witnessed over the years into consideration. She agreed to conspire with Jack, but knew she had weird air of her own to clear and the opportunity to double cross her conspirator was too good to pass up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day, I may write an epilogue. Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you need an adventure and @glenncoco4 and @wanna-be-bold of tumblr helped me start this... This is my first attempt at incorporating Slibbs in this magnitude. So... I'm trying okay.


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